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04/03/2012

Enduring

Enduro: Mountain biking’s activity du jour. It seems like it
might just be a large part of the future of racing bicycles up and across, but
mostly back down the mountains. As normal with ‘The Future’ it has turned up
not a moment too soon, for me at least. Yes, I am clambering aboard the Enduro
racing bandwagon, but I’ve been waiting for it to turn up for some time now.
Going as fast as possible down whatever trail I can find is pretty much the
rhyme and reason of why I mountain bike and finally it seems what I enjoy about
mountain bicycles has been turned into a race. No longer must we compromise in
order to race. No longer must we choose between endless laps of the same XC
course, or a 20 minutes of fear filled DH time on a bike that is ideal for
neither. The days of racing in an XC queue or Queuing for a DH race are over, An
Enduro race is a Mountain Bike Race.

So yes, this is a blog about doing a bit of enduroing
(endurage?). If all goes to plan 3 of the UK rounds, a splash of euro action (read:
being destroyed by the euro brigade) at a Superenduro and whatever else the
budget will allow. The bike? A 140/120mm Stumpjumper of 2007 vintage since you
ask, chosen because it is the bike that I own. It’ll have three chainrings on
the front, a nine speed cassette on the back and a normal ‘just a tube’
seatpost, because that is what it has. I could pass those of as disadvantages,
but this bike has one trick up its aluminium sleeve; It is mine. I ride it
every day, on everything. It is not dug out the shed three times a year, it is
the bike that I ride, the bike that I know. And if I come last I’ll keep the
‘no dropper’ card close to hand. Any other preparations then? Aside from the
daily bicycle commute through umpteen sets of lights, the monthly fight club
that is the local mate’s race and all the ‘just normal mountain biking’ I can
fit in, that is a no.

The plan is to race for fun, but nothing makes me question
myself like finding out how fast I can actually ride a mountain bike. As I sit
waiting at the top of another trail about to twist its way into the darker
parts of a English/Scottish/Welsh plantation hopefully the self doubt will not
weigh to heavily on my shoulders. If I can keep my chin up both physically and
metaphorically and keep it together for long enough to reach the fireroad and
marshall at the other side of that particular bit of forest all should be well.
Fingers crossed, the lower half of the seniors cat won’t know what’s hit it.
Whatever happens, it is better to know where you stand, and nothing makes me
push the limits of what I can do astride a bicycle like knowing there will be a
few mates waiting at the finish line, with times to compare. I may not be
riding particularly fast, but it is fast for me. Thing is, fast is fun, there
is something good about ragging yourself silly, putting in every pedal stroke
possible, that doesn’t seem appropriate on a normal ‘just riding’ bicycle
jaunt.

So there you have it, riding fast, for fun, on my bicycle.
Sounds like a good way to spend a few Sundays.

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CONTACT: davidreubenmartin (at) googlemail (dot) com

We like mountain biking. We like filming, taking photos of and writing about mountain biking. We made a film with a camera that much like Cedric Gracia, was awesome 10 years ago. Regardless, it turned out pretty good. Find out a bit more about it. Then we made another film with a better camera that turned out pretty nice as well. We also take a few photos, write a few words and occasionally go racing. This is our blog.

''Armed with only an ancient camcorder, a broken tripod and their mountain bikes, a group of freinds head into the mountains of Scotland, England and Europe and emerge with a beautiful little film that is, well, Pretty Sweet'' - EMFF 2010